Aiga Senftleben co-founded Billie in 2016. Billie has since become a leading provider of BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later) solutions for B2B transactions, offering innovative digital payment services. A qualified lawyer, Senftleben previously led the legal teams at Funding Circle Europe and Zencap, and held senior legal roles at PayPal and eBay. She oversees the legal, compliance, and people departments at Billie, and is known for championing diversity, equality, and inclusive workplace culture. Her leadership has helped achieve a 46% female representation in management and close the gender pay gap within the company’s 110-strong, multicultural team. She is also a member of the Digital Finance Forum at Germany’s Federal Ministry of Finance, showing commitment to the industry beyond her entrepreneurial venture as well.
Women’s Tabloid: Having transitioned from a legal background with experience at companies like PayPal, eBay, Funding Circle, and Zencap, what motivated you to co-found Billie and make such a significant impact in the fintech sector, particularly in the B2B BNPL space?
Aiga Senftleben: My experience at PayPal revealed a clear market failure: consumer payments were seamless, while B2B transactions remained archaic. Working in SME lending at Funding Circle further highlighted the critical need for working capital among small businesses, yet the tools were slow and manual. The motivation to co-found Billie was to apply modern fintech principles—automation, real-time data, and a superior user experience—to solve this fundamental B2B challenge. We aimed to build the infrastructure for a digital “Pay by Invoice,” giving businesses the same convenience consumers enjoy. My legal and regulatory background was foundational to building a compliant, robust solution from day one, which is a critical differentiator.
WT: BNPL is transforming how businesses manage cash flow. How is Billie using this model to empower B2B buyers and sellers, and what improvements have you observed in the overall customer experience so far?
AS: Billie transforms cash flow by decoupling the buyer’s payment date from the seller’s payout, absorbing the associated risk. For sellers, we provide immediate payment and handle the entire collection process, fundamentally de-risking their sales. For buyers, we offer flexible payment terms via a frictionless, real-time credit approval process at the point of sale. The impact is visible at the most critical points in e-commerce: merchants using Billie eliminate credit defaults and experience a strong uplift in conversion rates and average order value. We have replaced a high-friction, manual process with a one-click digital experience.
WT: How does Billie approach sensitive financial data and ensure customer security, especially given GDPR and other regulatory requirements in the EU?
AS: We operate as a regulated entity, and our approach to data security is uncompromising. Under the supervision of Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), our security and compliance frameworks are built to banking-grade standards. Our approach has three pillars: regulatory oversight ensuring adherence to strict financial rules; data and information security by design; and embedded GDPR compliance to ensure all processing is lawful and transparent. This robust framework is essential for operating across the EU and serving enterprise clients.
WT: With over 180 employees from 45+ countries, Billie seems to place strong emphasis on diversity and global talent. How has your internationally diverse team influenced product development for different regional markets?
AS: An internationally diverse team is a strategic necessity for a pan-European company which gives us a true competitive advantage that directly improves our product. Europe is not a single market; business practices, regulations, and payment behaviours differ significantly. Our team’s native insights into these local realities prevent a failing one-size-fits-all approach and accelerate our international expansion. This diversity fosters a more creative and robust problem-solving environment, challenging assumptions and leading to a more resilient product that feels local and trustworthy to users in every country we operate in.
WT: Looking towards the future, what are your long-term goals for Billie? Are there any new technologies or trends you believe will significantly shape the next phase of growth?
AS: Our long-term goal is to become the dominant B2B payments infrastructure for Europe, moving from a single product to a platform that powers all forms of B2B commerce. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are central to our growth, powering more sophisticated, real-time risk models to approve more buyers accurately. Furthermore, the adoption of Open Banking will allow us to leverage permissioned bank data to enhance underwriting speed and serve an even broader set of businesses.
